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Golden One Center Opens

The Golden One Center is ready for events and for the NBA season. This large construction project is completed on time and on budget (cost increases were at owner’s request and expense–not the City’s). It is still surrounded by construction sites for other buildings, yet this weekend it will open for it’s maiden concert with Sir Paul McCartney.

The Sacramento Bee offered some helpful advice on getting to the Center by car: reserve a parking spot in advance in a downtown garage at reserve.sacpark.org. I highly recommend this because the available street parking is of short duration and now extends to 10 p.m. So if you arrive at 5:30 p.m. for a concert and park in a one hour spot, you will have a ticket by 6:31 p.m. It is much cheaper to pay for a garage spot than a $58 parking ticket!

The Golden One Center is designed so most seats are between the boxes and the floor.

For the McCartney concerts the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates are offering valet bike parking at Cesar Chavez park (and they’ll stow your helmets and backpacks, which are not allowed in the Center).

YoloBus is offering free shuttle rides to the arena from the West Sacramento transit center on West Capitol Avenue from City Hall. Sacramento Light Rail will drop you within a block of the Center and you can park and ride from many locations.

The most relaxed way to enjoy an event is stay at one of the hotels within walking distance. Depending on your mobility, the Holiday Inn Sacramento, and the Citizen’s Hotel. There are many more closer to the Capitol about 7-10 blocks away. Finding places to eat near the Golden One Center is also easy.

I am not a basketball fan and I rarely go to concerts in large venues, nonetheless, I hope the downtown arena delivers on its promise to revitalize K Street.